STEVEN ADLER: My Mother 'Didn't Lose Me To Rock And Roll; She Lost Me Because I Was A Drug Addict'

Former GUNS N’ ROSES drummer Steven Adler and his mother, Deanna Adler recently appeared on “Good Day LA”, the morning television news and entertainment program airing on KTTV, a Fox owned-and-operated television station in Los Angeles, California. They discussed Deanna‘s long-awaited tell-all book, “Sweet Child Of Mine: How I Lost My Son To Guns N’ Roses” (formerly “No Bed Of Roses”), which came out on January 24 via Monarch Publishing, LLC.

Deanna watched her son endure continuing addiction, legal battles, financial ruin, two heart attacks, multiple suicide attempts, a debilitating stroke, and numerous stints in rehab after being kicked out of GUNS N’ ROSES in 1990.

She appeared on the second season of “Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew”, on which Steven was a cast member. Her son reportedly started doing drugs when he was 11.

Speaking about the difficult time his mother had controlling him during his childhood years, Steven told “Good Day LA”: “She didn’t lose me to rock and roll. She lost me because I was a drug addict, and I was a rebel, and anything that… Most kids are this way — if your parents tell you to do something, you do the complete opposite. So when she would tell to go to bed at nine o’clock, I’d go to bed, but I’d open my window and I’d go out and I’d go to the arcade and I’d hang out with my friends and with girls. I always did what I wanted to do.”

He continued: “At the beginning, she was very helpful. She would do the band’s laundry, she would bring us food… She was like a band mom. She was really wonderful and she was really great. And every morning, there was breakfast, she had lunch for us, every night [at] six o’clock there was dinner. So I had a great childhood. I just wanted to do what I wanted to do. I was twelve, thirteen years old, but I thought — like most kids do — you think you’re twenty-one.”

An official description of “Sweet Child Of Mine: How I Lost My Son To Guns N’ Roses” calls it “an honest and revealing look into a life beset by abuse and betrayal,” adding that it details “what it was like raising a child who became a member of one of the greatest rock bands in history, and a heroin addict of equally epic proportions.”

The publisher’s description continues that the book “emotionally and enthrallingly details a mother’s love for her infamous son, whose phenomenal success is surpassed only by his astounding capacity for self-destruction,” adding, “It is her courage and indomitable spirit that both educates and inspires, as she is living proof that devotion to family, a sense of humor, and faith in a higher power are the foundations for achieving peace and purpose in life.”

Steven Adler rejoined GUNS N’ ROSES at several shows on the band’s “Not In This Lifetime” tour, including three separate stops on the U.S. leg and one gig in Buenos Aires, Argentina, playing drums on the classics “Out Ta Get Me” and “My Michelle”.

Steven Adler‘s own autobiography, “My Appetite For Destruction: Sex, And Drugs, And Guns N’ Roses”, came out in July 2010. In the book, Adler tells all, addressing his struggles with heroin and crack addiction; his financial ruin after being kicked out of GN’R; his shattered marriage; and the severe health problems that nearly claimed his life on several occasions.

Deanna Adler pens book about Guns N Roses drummer Steven

Worrying about your child is tough enough when he leads a normal life and encounters normal temptations.
But when the kid is a rock star in the public eye with drugs all around him and his life falling apart, you can imagine how difficult that might be. Deanna Adler didn’t have to imagine it; she experienced it all with her son, Steven Adler – the original drummer for Guns N’ Roses. She’s written a book called ‘Sweet Child Of Mine: How I Lost My Son To Guns N’ Roses.’
Deanna’s book ‘Sweet Child Of Mine’ is now available on Amazon.com.

Posted by Good Day L.A. on Wednesday, January 25, 2017